Jim Stafford at the Venice Performing Arts Center

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Venice Institute for Performing Arts is proud to present

Jim Stafford on January 6th at 7pm

The Venice Institute for Performing Arts is proud to present country music star Jim Stafford on January 6th, 2018 at 7pm! Best known for his humorous country novelty songs, Stafford’s perfect blend of comedy and song has given him an extremely successful career performing. He has guest-starred on the Love Boat and Fantasy Island, had an ABC show, co-hosted Those Amazing Animals with Burgess Meredith and Priscilla Presley, hosted 56 episodes of Nashville on the Road, and received a gold record for his work on the Disney movie The Fox and The Hound

Originally of Winter Haven, Florida, Stafford began his musical career in high school with friends Bobby Braddock, Kent LaVoie (also known as Lobo) and Gram Parsons (of the Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers). Stafford’s first chart hit was “Swamp Witch”, produced by Lobo, which cracked the U.S. Top 40 in July 1973. On March 2, 1974 his biggest hit, “Spiders & Snakes“, peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, selling over two million copies, earning a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. that month.

In addition to his music, the singer-songwriter also had several stints with film and television. The Jim Stafford Show was a six-week summer variety series shown on ABC from July 30, 1975 to September 3, 1975. It featured Valerie Curtin, Richard Stahl, Deborah Allen, Cyndi Wood and Gallagher, and was co-produced by Tony Scotti. Stafford also contributed to several movie soundtracks. He received a gold record for his work on the Disney movie, The Fox and the Hound. He also wrote “Cow Patti” for the Clint Eastwood movie Any Which Way You Can and appeared in the movie. His work has been covered by George Jones and Jerry Reed. His second classical guitar album, Somewhere in Time appeared in March 2002. His most recent comedy album was Don’t Tell Mama I’m A Guitar Picker, She Thinks I’m Just In Jail. In 2010, he produced and recorded his first Christmas album, A Guitar For Christmas.

For more information, please visit www.veniceperformingartscenter.com, or call our box office at (941) 218-3779.